


Little White Lie

by yellobear



Series: Heith Week 2017 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 07:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10212227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellobear/pseuds/yellobear
Summary: Hunk works at a small restaurant. When one of the other chefs calls out, Keith is sent to into the kitchen to help out. Hunk, who's crushing on Keith, loses his cool and says something dumb.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Heith Week 2017 on tumblr and also for a friend! Day 2's prompt was Lies/Confessions.

“Where’s Pidge?” asked Hunk.

 

“Oh. She’s not coming in tonight.”

 

Hunk stared at his manager like he had five heads. Shiro stared back at him, but quickly broke eye contact after feeling uncomfortable. “Don’t look at me like that, Hunk,” he muttered.

 

“And when were you planning on telling me this?” Hunk asked, with a sarcastic chuckle thrown in at the end. “Did you think I wasn’t gonna notice being the  _ only _ chef in the kitchen tonight? It’s  _ Friday _ , Shiro!  _ Friday. _ I can’t handle a Friday night by myself!” Hunk began to hyperventilate. “I can’t handle this-- Is this really happening right now?”

 

Shiro grabbed Hunk by the shoulders before he could descend any further into madness. “ _ Hey!  _ Would you calm down? Everything’s going to be fine. Did you really think I would let you to take on a Friday night by yourself?”

 

Hunk began to catch his breath. “W-well…”

 

Shiro squeezed Hunk’s shoulders, making him shut up. “I already have someone to take Pidge’s shift. Just go into the kitchen and get ready for opening, alright?” He gave Hunk a solid pat on the back (his hunched over, tensed up back), which sent him on his way. As soon as Hunk left the front of the restaurant, Shiro scrambled to the host station for his staff list. He began going through all the names of the employees who were working that night. 

 

It was only now that he realized he had scheduled Pidge’s replacement for  _ Saturday  _ night, and Hunk would really have to face the Friday dinner rush alone. Shiro rubbed his temples with one hand, so his palm covered his eyes.  _ “What do I do now?” _ At that moment, if an asteroid had hit Earth and wiped out everyone, Shiro would have been cool with it.

 

“Shiro. Are you crying again?” 

 

It was Keith, one of the waiters on staff that night. Shiro’s eyes widened and he seized Keith by the arm. “Keith. I need you to work with Hunk in the kitchen tonight.”

 

It was Keith’s turn to look at Shiro like he had five heads. “You want  _ me _ to work in the kitchen? What am I supposed to do there?” he asked plainly. 

 

“Just do whatever Hunk says! You’re good at taking direction… Aren’t you?” Shiro remembered reading that on Keith’s resume. 

 

“I’ll do if you pay me what you pay Hunk,” Keith demanded. 

  
“Yes, alright, whatever _. _ Can you go before he has another panic attack?”

 

* * *

_ An appetizer of king prawn in seafood sauce.  _

_ Penne pasta with beef fillet and vegetables (no onions) with the cream sauce on the side. _

_ Beef tenderloin steak (medium rare) with mustard butter and red wine sauce. _

_ That’s not so bad _ , Hunk thought upon receiving his first order. While he got started on the steak and pasta, he left Keith with ingredients and directions for the king prawn. So far everything was going smoothly.

“How’re the shrimps looking?” Hunk called out from the pantry. 

“Uhm.” Keith was stirring the crustaceans in a pan, and was honestly feeling a little overwhelmed.“They’re turning pink.” 

Hunk reappeared with a huge silver pot and went to the sink to fill it with water. “Okay, that means they’re cooking. Just keep stirring them.” He began to lug the pot full of water to the stove, but Keith noticed and stopped him half way. “Here, I got it--” Keith muttered under his breath.

“No, I’m fine-” Hunk replied. “Just--” Keith’s hand brushed against the back of Hunk’s, and the pot of water spilled onto the floor with a loud clang. “ _ Great,”  _ Hunk grumbled. “I’m such a klutz…” 

“I’ll clean this up and you take care of the shrimp,” Keith said, sounding like he was the one running the kitchen. Hunk didn’t object and quickly went to take the king prawns out of the pan. While he was relieved to have someone helping him, the fact that it was Keith threw a different type of anxiety into his situation. 

Hunk was now convinced he had a crush on him. They hardly ever spoke or saw each other at the restaurant, but it was always a pleasant occurrence when they happened to cross paths. He thought Keith was a little rough around the edges, but also beautiful and mysterious. He often stole glances at him and wished they could get a chance to better know each other.  _ Well you should always be careful what you wish for, _ Hunk told himself.

With a fluid motion of his wrist, Hunk drizzled the seafood sauce over the king prawn. He stood back and exhaled as a cooling sense of completion washed over him. But his temperature spiked again when he felt Keith’s strong hand grip his shoulder. “Good job, Hunk,” Keith told him, his lips curled into a confident smile. “It looks great.” 

_ You look great _ . Thank the lord Hunk’s mouth went dry and that nonsense didn’t spew out of it. When a waiter appeared, he sent the dish off to its table. It took a few minutes, long after Keith had said anything, but Hunk finally mustered up the courage to reply: “I couldn’t have done it without your help.” 

Maybe it was fate that brought them together like this? Maybe it was fate that Shiro fucked up the work schedule? Whatever the case, Hunk knew he couldn’t let an opportunity like this go to waste. 

But suddenly Keith’s confident gaze wavered and his dark eyes were downcast. “I don’t know. I’ve never really cooked anything before,” he muttered. “Did you try it?” 

Hunk’s body seized up and a stupid smirk appeared on his face. He had completely forgotten to taste the dish before sending it off. In a panic, he took a leftover shrimp and clumsily spilled some sauce over it. He took a bite of it and winced. 

Keith jolted up, as he was watching Hunk’s reaction carefully. “What? How bad is it?” he asked.

Hunk broke eye contact with Keith’s hurt expression and stared at the shrimp. “I just can’t believe it! It’s so good!” he lied, “What’s your secret?” Any uncertainty Hunk had about lying disappeared as he watched Keith get flustered and bashful from his praise. Whatever came out of this little white lie was worth it after witnessing that.

“Well. I forgot how many cloves of garlic you told me to use, so I just threw in the whole thing… and I accidentally added half a tablespoon of paprika instead of half a teaspoon--” Keith explained, rubbing his chin as he tried to remember all his missteps. “I don’t know if I added the parsley…”

“You didn’t,” said Hunk.  _ Not that it would’ve mattered. _

  
That was when the door swung open and one of the waiters brought back their dish of king prawns. “Yeah. Uhm-- the customers  _ complained _ that these taste like pure garlic, and told me to bring them back!” It was Lance and he looked confused, as he never experienced an event like this before. He looked at Keith and then at Hunk. “Oh. No wonder. Keith made these, didn’t he?’


End file.
